HIS CREATION?
Ex-judge: I helped dream up 'Sopranos'

Tuesday, December 11, 2007
By JEFF WHELAN
NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

Six months after he teased, tortured and impressed millions of viewers with his stunningly abrupt series finale, David Chase finally has some answering to do about "The Sopranos."

And this time, he'll do it under oath.

Chase is expected to testify in Trenton against a former North Jersey municipal judge who for years has claimed he helped create the blockbuster series and deserves to be paid for it.

The former judge, Robert Baer, even promises to introduce jurors to the Jerseyan he alleges was the real-life inspiration for Tony Soprano during a trial that opens tomorrow in federal court.

Baer, also a former prosecutor in Hudson and Union counties, first filed his breach-of-contract lawsuit five years ago, claiming it was he who suggested to Chase in 1995 the idea of a mob show based in New Jersey. Chase has acknowledged enlisting Baer's help during his research, but has dismissed Baer's claims as "egocentric fantasies."

Baer has not found a sympathetic audience in U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano. The judge dismissed the case twice, citing the statue of limitations. An appeals court overturned Pisano both times, but upheld much of his rulings.

As the suit continued this spring, Pisano ruled that it is "clear" Baer did not assist in the creation or development of the Sopranos. But he found Baer acted as a location scout, researcher and consultant. He said a jury should decide if and how much he should be paid.

The dispute now largely boils down to a three-day trip Chase took to New Jersey in October 1995, just two months before he finished writing the pilot script.

Chase had met Baer, an aspiring screenwriter, through a mutual friend and thought his law enforcement background would be useful, he said.

They visited reputed mob hangouts, including a pork store in Elizabeth and a go-go bar in Newark, met investigators, and listened to hours of wiretapped conversations of the DeCalvacante crime family. Those stops and others, Baer alleges, inspired characters, plot lines and locations.

But perhaps most important, according to Baer, was the lunch they had at The Madrid restaurant in Elizabeth with Tony Spirito, a 54-year-old waiter from Elizabeth.

Spirito said he regaled the producer with tales of the wiseguys he'd met growing up. He told Chase about characters such as "Little Pussy" and "Big Pussy" Russo, a pair of cat burglar brothers.

"David Chase didn't know Jack about organized crime. He didn't even know what the 'vig' was," Spirito said during a recent interview in a Linden diner. "That guy don't know the street."

Weeks after Chase's trip to New Jersey, he finished writing the pilot episode for "The Sopranos "back in Los Angeles. The debut season introduced a recurring character called "Big Pussy."

Baer alleges he had suggested Chase lift the plot line from Spirito's life.

Chase, in court papers, said that he had the idea to frame the show around a power struggle between Tony Soprano and his uncle and mother well before meeting Spirito.

Chase also defended his bona fides as a mob aficionado, citing his "100 percent Italian origin," longtime fascination with the Mafia, and Jersey roots. He said a friend of his mother and a distant cousin had connections to the Newark gang run by "Richie the Boot" Boiardo, on which he "very loosely" based the Sopranos.

It became a moot point. The judge ruled Baer can't be compensated for the ideas he claims were his because they "are not novel, exist in the public domain" and were not Baer's but true stories told by others, such as Spirito.

It's now a matter of pay. Baer alleges he and Chase agreed he would be paid on a contingency basis.

Chase denied he made such an agreement. The producer said he offered to pay Baer, but Baer declined, saying the process would be a learning experience as he sought to become a screenwriter himself.